My experience has been that Manfred Trojahn’s music is rarely
encountered. I have come across his Symphony No. 3 with
the Berlin RSO under John Carewe as part of a six CD box set
titled German Symphonic Works 1950-2000, Volume 2
on RCA Red Seal. In addition his opera Enrico 1989/90
is available on the CPO label.

The present fine release of music for string quartet should
assist Trojahn to gain notice by a larger audience. The performers
the Henschel Quartet inform me that all scores contained on
the disc are world premiere recordings.

Trojahn was born in 1949 at Cremlingen Braunschweig in Germany.
Studying mainly at the Hochschule Hamburg he later spent a year
of study at the Villa Massimo, Rome. From 1991 Trojahn has been
professor of composition at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule,
Dusseldorf. A close contemporary of fellow German composers
Wolfgang Rihm and Detlev Glanert, Trojahn’s work list shows
he has composed a substantial body of scores including operas
and five symphonies.

I have been following the career of the outstanding Munich-based
Henschel Quartet for some time and was excited to hear that
a disc of contemporary works for string quartet by Manfred Trojahn
was in the process of being recorded.

Trojahn’s four movement String Quartet No. 3 was composed
in 1983 and premièred the same year by the Auryn Quartet in
Hamburg. Stark and uncompromising the score initially seemed
uninviting and even a touch threatening. With repeated hearings
this highly absorbing music became far more engaging.

The opening movement greets the listener with a wall of harmonics.
Cold as steel, there is an unwelcoming quality to this bleak
writing. From 0:52 the singing tone of the violin serves as
a gleaming shaft of light through all the gloom. This is music
of significant tension and heavily laden with harmonics. Dying
away quietly the writing could depict a lonely figure walking
towards a distant horizon. Movement two inhabits a warmer more
tranquil sound world. At 0:54-1:33 the doleful cello plays its
deep rich line. The slowly shifting music provides a sense of
the metaphysical, leaving a breathlessness that fades to nothing.
Unquestionably unsettling the extremely short third movement
consisting of sharp contrasts just thrusts and surges forward.
In the Finale the atmosphere is similar in many respects
to the opening movement but with a more prominent cello. The
fluctuating patterns and varying tempi and textures are predominantly
austere and unwelcoming. Overall there is a surprising degree
of tranquillity in the writing that at times suggested to me
the late quartets of Webern and Berg.

From 1988 Fragments for Antigone are a set of six pieces
for string quartet. Trojahn created the series as incidental
music for a staging in Bochum of the Friedrich Hölderlin version
of Sophocles’s tragedy Antigone. Considered inappropriate
for the play the music wasn’t actually used. Described in the
accompanying booklet notes as “aphoristic pieces” the
titles for each of the six have been allocated titles extracted
from Hölderlin’s text. I have been provided with an approximate
English translation of each of the six titles to serve as a
guide. The score was premièred by the Auryn-Quartet at the Goethe-Institute
at Barcelona in 1988.

The opening piece ....wenn uns nicht im Finstern hält die
Zeit (…if not time holds us in the darkness) is music
of severity, recurrently prodding, punching and screeching.
The hostility of the writing conveys an atmosphere of gathering
anxiety.

Piece number two ....nicht kam ein Wort zu mir… (…not
came a word to me…) uses a nervy ostinato that just
flashes by. The writing is interspersed with numerous silences
that seem almost as important as the music.

Containing liberal use of high harmonics the third piece titled
.…marmornen Glanz… (…marble shine…) projects an
eerie tension. I was struck by the wide and often razor-sharp
dynamics of the writing. From 1:17 and 2:43 there are short
shifts of mood and texture after which any remaining vitality
seems to burn itself out.

Playing tightly as a unit the febrile fourth piece ...dieselben
Stöße... der Seele… (…the same convulsions... of the
soul…) contains a strident and unrelenting ostinato like
a septic throb. The overload of tension created is of neurosis
proportions. On first hearing the uneasiness that the writing
creates was quite overwhelming.

Contrastingly piece five O mir, grad vor dem Tode ist dies
das Wort. (O me, just before death this is the word.)
is marked by feather-light textures. A mesmerising drone is
interrupted by an abundance of silences.

The final piece six .…und nicht wohin ich gehe. (…and
not where I go.) is underpinned by incessant and deeply
resonant beats on the cello that ever so gradually lessen in
weight. A remarkable grief-laden sound created by the cellist
hitting the string very near the bridge with his right thumb.
Intermittent dancing pizzicato impedes only fleetingly
on the cello texture.

Chant d’insomnie III (Song to Insomnia III)is the penultimate movement of the seven movement score
Lettera amorosa (Love letter) for 2 sopranos,
2 violins and string quartet (2007). The Henschel premièred
the piece in 2007 at the reopening after fire damage of the
Duchess Anna-Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany. This substantial
nocturne-like movement is probably the most immediately accessible
work on the disc. Long melodic lines create a dreamlike and
mainly romantic setting. From 4:33 the intensity increases to
form music that borders on the delirious. At 5:04 the mood lightens
becoming one of essentially calm refection with a curious sense
of weightlessness. A terse, acrimony-filled episode from 7:35-7:59
is the only real disruption. From 8:45 birdlike fluttering accompanies
the sorrowful melodic line and brings the score to a close.

The most recent score on the disc the String Quartet No.
4 was written for and dedicated to the Henschel Quartet.
At its première in 2009 at the Haus der Stadt,
Düren the four movement work garnered considerable acclaim for
both composer and performers. With its broad melodic lines the
Elysian opening movement is an engaging mix of the amorous with
an occasional sense of heartbreaking despair. Trojahn could
easily be depicting a torrid love affair.

The Henschel asked Trojahn to design a Mendelssohnian link in
the score and they got it in movement two. Subtitled ‘First
strange scene’ the movement comes across as a contemporary
version of an elfin Scherzo in the manner of Mendelssohn.
This is intriguing and highly virtuosic writing from Trojahn
creating thrilling and vibrantly imaginative music twisting
and weaving that just gallops on and on with great momentum.
Quartet violist Monika Henschel-Schwind has described this writing
as a contemporary Sommernachtstraum (Midsummer Night's
Dream) movement.

Broad languid melodies in the third movement provide a warm
and comforting blanket. The prominent ostinato figure
first heard at 1:40 could have come from a Dvorák quartet. Wistful
introspection strangely draws the listener in. From 4:29-5:04
harmonics surround the singing melodic line. A romantic close
to the movement provides an ethereal sense of floating. This
would make a wonderful independent piece.

The concluding movement subtitled ‘Second strange scene’
is an uncommon mix of tarantella rhythms and cheerful melodies of a distinct
folk feel. Although maintaining Trojahn’s unique style the writing
seemed on occasions suggestive of Romantic composers: Beethoven,
Schubert and Schumann. A race at breakneck speed sends the listener
hurdling to the conclusion.

Clearly the preparations for these demanding Trojahn scores,
all world première recordings, must have presented the quartet
with innumerable challenges. Scrupulously prepared as always
the Henschel Quartet demonstrate an impeccable unity to their
expressive playing. With an enviable control notable is their
outstanding phrasing, articulation and tone. Yet to reach their
peak I marvel at how much better these hard-working and talented
players can become.

Trojahn doesn’t seem an overly derivative composer; he has his
own unique sound-world. These are challenging and rewarding
contemporary scores certainly within the compass of the average
listener. They can be best appreciated with an open mind and
a reasonable degree of concentration. The two most immediately
accessible scores Chant d’insomnie III and the String
Quartet No.4 are quite exceptional and deserve to be staples
of the contemporary string quartet repertoire. Lovers of progressive
chamber music repertoire should search out this outstanding
Neos music release from the Henschel Quartet. A cast-iron certainty
to be one of my ‘Recordings of the Year’ for 2011.

Most discerning about their choice of repertoire it would be
good to see the Henschel turn their attention to the string
quartets of Haydn and Schumann or maybe Schulhoff and Britten.

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